This invention relates to golf clubs and more particularly to golf clubs having an adjustable head.
A full set of golf clubs normally includes between eight and eleven iron clubs, two or more woods and a putter. The iron clubs are numbered 1-9 and in addition there may be a pitching wedge and a sand wedge. The loft angle of the clubs, that is the angle between the club face and the vertical when the player is addressing the ball, increases in increments of about three to four degrees from the one iron up through the nine iron the pitching wedge and the sand wedge. This causes the trajectory of the ball to increase in height and decrease in distance as more lofted clubs are used so that the player may hit shots of varying length with substantially the same swing.
In order to reduce the number and hence the weight of the clubs required to provide the full range of loft angles, adjustable clubs have been developed. Two such prior art clubs are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,840,231 and 3,791,647. These prior art adjustable golf clubs generally include a single iron head which may be adjusted from relatively small to a relatively large loft angles. The various angles are established by meshing teeth on the club head and shaft end. This requires that the club head be disengaged from the shaft to change the loft angles and then the two must be reengaged. As a result, changing the loft angle on such prior art clubs was cumbersome and in some cases required the use of a tool. Moreover, such prior art adjustable golf clubs do not have the "look and feel" of conventional golf clubs.